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Looking Back: Nov. 14, 2012

The Hunt home, on the lot of 135 N. Second St. in DeKalb, where the Egyptian Theatre now stands. Year unknown. Thanks to the Egyptian Theatre and the Joiner History Room for the photo.

125 YEARS AGO

November 19, 1887
A glib-tongue sharper was on the street last Wednesday selling jewelry. After about two hours, the sharper had exchanged a lot of brass chains and worthless watches for about $100 of the crowd’s money. Those who were bitten have gained something in experience; the fellow was a most practical teacher.

A couple of dogs got at George Hinkle’s flock of sheep, killing two and mangling several others. The damage was appraised at $9, which will be paid out of the town dog-tax fund.

DeKalb Firemen will give a Thanksgiving dance, and Hose Company No. 2 of Sycamore will attend in uniform and help their DeKalb brothers enjoy the occasion.

Rev. E.F. Strickland, the talented and eloquent Baptist pastor formerly of Hinckley, recently set up in Iowa as a Christian Scientist and faith leader. Last week he was arrested for professing to cure disease without a license. He was formerly an actor of some note.

N.L. Cottrell is thinking of removing from his farm to a residence in the city.

A Catholic school is being contemplated at Maple Park.

Professor Dunn is trying to get up an old-fashioned singing school at the Davis schoolhouse near Herbert. Professor Kipple has one already started at the same place. With literary society meetings each month, prayer meetings every Wednesday, school five days each week, a sermon and Sabbath school every Sunday, the old schoolhouse keeps warm.

100 YEARS AGO

November 16, 1912
Harry Sell, a popular Sycamore boy, lies at the Deaconess hospital in Indianapolis with both legs fractured and his back injured, the result of an awful railroad wreck in which 15 were killed and 16 painfully injured.

The True Republican has purchased 11 handsome prizes which we will give away to boys and girls at no charge. Among these prizes is Beauty, the prettiest pony you have ever seen, with a beautiful little pony cart and a splendid set of harness. ...We will give the prizes away to the boys and girls who secure the most votes. For every new subscriber a child brings to the True Republican, he will get 5,000 votes.

We are sorry to note that Mrs. Levi Brainard is not in the best of health.

An automobile containing four men and a woman tumbled backward over a 150-foot precipice at the edge of Highland Boulevard in Brooklyn, N.Y., killing the woman and seriously injuring two of the men. The two uninjured passengers took to their heels. The woman’s jewelry, valued at $6,000, was found in the pockets of one of the injured men.

Thanksgiving is not a day; it is a habit. We cannot be thankful on Thanksgiving Day unless we have been learning how every other day in the year.

Getting married is like gathering mushrooms. The only way to find out whether you have got the real thing or poison is to swallow it and wait.

At the Congregational church Thanksgiving night, imitations of Victrola records will be presented by live people in a manner well worth the price.

75 YEARS AGO

November 17, 1937
When the formal opening of the Yule season will be held and when the Christmas lights on street lamps will be turned on are matters for the Chamber of Commerce to decide. The date most acceptable to the merchants is Dec. 4. Opinions are that the opening day should not be set too far ahead, or the season would be too long and tire everyone out.

Thanksgiving turkeys this week should be cheap, and should cost no more than 33 cents a pound by Thanksgiving.

The sound of marching feet, the sharp cry of military commands, women taking the place of men in the fields, men at camp or engaged in maneuvers – all of these signs in Italy and Germany presage a European war within the next two years.

Will Wolters is confined to his home with a lame foot caused from a log falling on his toe while cutting wood.

Excitement was aroused here Friday when the roof of the house occupied by the W. Pollard family was discovered on fire by Mr. Pollard, who had cleaned the furnace a few minutes before.

DeKalb County schools this week shared $4,627.59 distributed from the state fund.

The values of the five railroads operating in DeKalb County were slashed from $3,424,596 in 1936 to $3,108,760 this year.

50 YEARS AGO

November 16, 1962
Four boys age 17 to 20 stole half-pint milk bottles from the Cream Top Dairy on Oct. 30 and threw them through the windows of DeKalb Police Capt. Jerry Bratcher’s home with the purpose of frightening Mrs. Bratcher. ...All four have been charged with reckless conduct and criminal damage to property.

Sycamore Junior High School conducted a protective civil defense drill Wednesday. All 333 students were massed in a lower central hall as swiftly as possible. This is strictly for emergency fallout protection.

Employment in 60 reporting firms in the DeKalb County area increased by 100 last month, an increase of 680 over the past 12-month period.

For the first time in the university’s long history, a football team from NIU will engage in a grid classic in a post-season bowl game. – Sycamore True Republican

25 YEARS AGO

November 18, 1987
DeKalb County has been hit with its first major rezoning suit. Gary Cordes filed suit alleging the board was arbitrary when it denied his request to have 35 acres of agricultural land on Rich Road rezoned for residential use.

In January 1988 Resource Bank will be the new name of The First National Bank of Malta. – The MidWeek